Don’t Despair: You Can Handle The Cost of Redundancy

If you find yourself made redundant, you might panic about your financial situation. As you’re about to discover, redundancy doesn’t have to be the bell of doom that it seems at first. You can – and we know this is a cliche – see it as a grand opportunity. It’s the chance to leave that old boring position behind and move on to something bigger, better and brighter. So many people sink into a job that is comfortable and often won’t realize how stuck they have actually been until they are quite literally shown the door. You might find, that when you think about it, this was what you always wanted. Was the job you’ve just been let go from supposed to fill a gap and provide an income for a short duration? Then it’s time now to look for the position that you really want with the company that you want to work for, whatever that is wherever that is.

At this point you’re probably thinking, hey wait, what about my income? Don’t worry, there are ways to deal with the income conundrum when you’re out of work. First, we need to ask one question.

Was It Your Fault?

There are a number of reasons to ask this question. First, you might have been wrongfully dismissed. If that’s the case, then you do have a legal case against your employer. You can sue them for wrongful dismissal, and in cases like this, you can get a lot more than just your lost paycheck. That’s one option available to you, but how would you know if you had been wrongfully dismissed?

This is a difficult question to answer, but your first point to explore would be looking at the reason they gave for letting you go. Does it seem fair to you? If the answer is no, then you might have a case.

You might have needed to leave work due to an injury. But again, the question should be asked whether the injury was your fault. If it wasn’t, then you can think about contacting a lawyer. A lawyer will typically say, hey come to our law office and let’s see if you have a case here. If you’re interested in doing this, you need to gather all the information about the accident possible, but there’s a good shot to get the pay you have lost here.

Or, it could be that the company has failed. Again, this isn’t your fault and you are entitled to a severance package in this case. That is something that you should be pursuing through the appropriate channels.

After you have explored all these possibilities, you need to ask yourself another question.

How Long Do I Have?

What we mean by this is the amount of time that you can survive easily without an income. Include in your calculations the money you get from your severance package, the money you get from any lawsuit that you might have taken against the company and indeed your savings. They are all important to take into account and build up a picture of how long you will be able to last without your job. For most people, it’s going to be around six months. Six months can seem like a pretty long time, but it will move like lightning when you are unemployed. Suddenly, you will be on the last month and have very little capital left to rely on. That’s an issue, and it is possible that it takes more than six months to find a new job. It depends on the state of the economy, whether people are hiring and whether you are a sought-after resource.

However, typically, you can bridge the gap here with freelance work and operations that you can complete without an employer. Who knows it’s possible that your time spent out of the office might be just what you need to move forward with your true passion. Perhaps you could start your own business in this time.

If there is a benefit of being unemployed, it’s that, while you still have money to fall back on you have freedom to decide your next path. You shouldn’t rush this decision, and you should instead make sure that you plan your moves carefully. The right step here could double or even triple your finances in the future.

We hope this helps you deal with the crushing blow of redundancy and that you come out of this difficult situation stronger than you were before.